RTÉ Radio 1’s Documentary on One this week, ‘If Music Be the Food of Life, Play On’, is the story of three professional Irish musicians who recently undertook a Music Network training programme to become music-in-healthcare trainers.

In August 2010, Music Network in partnership with the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) (UK) and Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland) under the coordination of Musique & Santé (France) were awarded support from the Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission to deliver a programme training musicians who can then in turn provide training to others to work in healthcare contexts. ‘If Music Be the Food of Life, Play On’, is the story of the three professional Irish musicians who took part.

The documentary follows musicians Liam, Finn and Grainne as they engage with patients, negotiate the hospital environment, conquer obstacles and bring fellow musicians on to a ward for the first time. For each of the musicians, it is an intense experience, and for one, a tragic accident shows just how fragile life can be.

The documentary is narrated and produced by Linda Geraghty, production supervision is by Sarah Blake. ‘If Music Be the Food of Life, Play On’  will be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday, 20 October at 6.05pm as part of RTÉ Big Music Week, (repeated Sunday 21 October at 7pm) and will be available to download or listen online at www.rte.ie/doconone.

musicnetwork.ie.